The following background is provided simply as an aid in understanding the disclosed material and is not admitted to describe or constitute prior art.
Center consoles are often provided between the front seats of a vehicle and may be configured as a storage area and/or an arm rest area. Such consoles may further have doors to selectively close a storage area provided within the console. For example, an articulated or flexible door, known in the art as a tambour door, may be used in a console to close an opening of a storage area.
Tambour doors are particularly useful for closing an opening having a non-linear profile, because tambour doors can ride on tracks or rails that follow the non-linear profile of the opening. Typically, tambour doors include multiple slats or segments that fit into and ride on the tracks or rails. The slats may be composed from a wide variety of materials including wood, metal or a polymer. The slats can be connected on an upper or lower face by a flexible backing or substrate. For example, felt may be used as a connecting substrate on a lower face of the slats, or a polymer may be used as a connecting substrate on an upper face of the slats.
It may be desirable to create a faux or laminate finish either on the slats (e.g., when the substrate is on the lower face of the slats) or on the substrate (e.g., when the substrate is on the upper face of the slats). For example, the faux or laminate finish creates the appearance of one material (e.g., for aesthetic reasons) while allowing the use of a second material as the slats or substrate (e.g., a stronger, more durable, or less expensive material). Moreover, a substrate disposed on top of the slats may be formed from a polymer using an extrusion or injection molding process. It often shows imperfections that result from the molding process, such as flow lines, knits, and other defects, which provide an undesirable aesthetic appearance. The faux or laminate finish can hide those defects.
To create such a faux or laminate finish, it is known to adhere a plurality of individual pieces of a thin laminate on the slats or the substrate. However, these laminate pieces may be prone to peeling or otherwise losing adhesion with the slats or substrate and may cause the door to bind in the track or rail. Conventional laminate pieces also may show stress-marks or crack when the door flexes. Additionally, adhering individual laminate pieces to the individual slats or the substrate is often time-consuming and labor intensive.
It would be desirable to provide a flexible interior component with a layer that defines an aesthetically pleasing outer surface, while maintaining flexibility of the trim component as the component is cycled. It would also be desirable to apply a finish to an interior component that creates a different appearance and that will withstand bending or flexing that the component may undergo.